The Pride of Barden
by Electronis Zappa
Summary: The Mitchell family moves from Washington State to Georgia when Beca and Jesse's father takes a job as head coach of the Barden High School Mountain Lion Football Team where Jesse will be quarterback. How will Beca react to the changes in her life? High School AU, eventual Bechloe. I don't own Pitch Perfect.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:** So yeah, I won't lie, this idea came largely out of liking the notion of Aubrey, Chloe and Stacie as cheerleaders. It's obviously AU, Jesse is Beca's twin and Beca's parents never divorced, and save for maybe Emily all those that were students in the first movie are the same age. Feels like there's a bit more setup I want to mention but I can't think of it now so whatever, if it comes up I'll add it in the future. Now that that's all out of the way, I want to take the opportunity to tell you all to go check out Slaying Intersected under Smeg699's account. It's a new joint story by us that's a Buffy, Chuck and Pitch Perfect Crossover. It hasn't gotten nearly the response I want especially given it's pretty much the thing I care most about in this world, no lie. The only favorite is from me and it's gotten three follows and two reviews, one of which kinda devastated me (Sorry dude but it did). So yeah, please, go check it out, I beg of you. The lack of response has kind of took some of the wind out of my desire to write. No clue when the next chapter of She'll Leave You With a Smile will come, but it's start to coalesce more in mind if it counts for anything. Enough yammering, on with the fic.

* * *

Beca was pacing back and forth on the carpet, her irritation obvious as she stalked a path up and down, up and down. As far as she was concerned, her anger and frustration with the situation was well founded and quite proper. Her parents had just casually walked in and dropped a bomb on her. And she really wasn't happy with it.

"Georgia? Really Dad?" Beca asked her complete and total irritation obvious now that her parents informed her and her twin brother Jesse they'd be moving to Barden, Georgia where their father had been hired as head football coach at the local high school. She couldn't believe that they were being this ridiculous. They obviously weren't aware of how terrible of an idea this was.

"Yes really Beca." Chris Mitchell said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, a move that was more his wife and daughter's forte. He was trying hard to maintain a calm exterior as he knew that this decision, especially at this time, was going to be a hard pill for his children to swallow. He looked to his wife, hoping that Beth might be willing to jump in. Just the glance was enough to know that he was on his own, for the moment. He knew that she was likely waiting for the right time, so instead he jumped right into the hard sell and explained, "It's a great opportunity, Barden is one of the top teams in the state. Georgia might not be Florida or Texas, but they are still a pretty serious football state, more so than Washington."

"But you're coaching at a college now, isn't this a step down?" Beca asked, grasping at straws. Even though she did want to get out of Ellensburg, a small town in Georgia wasn't her dream destination. Hell, even a major city anywhere in the bible belt wouldn't have been her dream destination. She still couldn't believe they were even considering this.

"I'm defensive coordinator at a Division II school." Chris explained as though it should have been obvious. Even as he was saying it, though, he realized that Beca wouldn't understand. While she and her brother were close, Beca had no interest at all in sports beyond knowing that Jesse was kicking ass. Figuring maybe he could play on that angle, he went on, "At Barden, I'll be head coach of a major high school team. They nearly made it to the state championship last year, and most all of their starters are returning, except for their kicker and their quarterback. It's not just good for me, it's good for Jesse too. His team here is horrible, he's the best player by far. Down there, he can make a difference and get noticed."

"Is this really something you want?" Beca asked, turning her wrath to her brother. He immediately held up his hands in a defensive posture. His dad had mentioned the job offer to him a couple days ago. He had said that this would be Beca's reaction. Of course good ol' dad thought that they'd be able to explain it to Beca. He was clearly wrong, as it would seem.

"It could be really good yeah." He said, immune to her glare after 17 years of living with the tiny brunette. As long as she kept it at the glare it was ok, but he still kept his hands up just in case. He and his dad had talked over the possibilities, and Jesse actually had a spark of hopefulness now that something good might even come from all this. Shrugging his shoulders he gave Beca his most hopeful and innocent look and said, "As it is now, I will never be starting quarterback for the Huskies, but if we go to Barden, maybe someday I can start for the Seahawks, or at least be Russell Wilson's backup."

"But it's GEORGIA." Beca emphasized again. She was still having a hard time believing that her parents were actually considering this. Surely they were aware of the news. She'd been following the news for this and she was still in high school. They must have been paying more attention to other things than that. Throwing her hands in the air she let out an exasperated huff of irritation before saying, "They just passed one of those religious freedom bills. They're doing everything in their power to make it clear they don't want people like me."

"Oh Bumblebee. They did pass it yes, but it won't go into effect. That's the point. It got vetoed…" their mom chimed in sympathetically, finally understanding Beca's biggest concern. Shooting a look at her husband who seemed relieved that she'd finally joined the conversation she walked towards her irate teenaged daughter. Now that the heart of the matter was out, she was fairly certain that they could work Beca past it. After all, it really was an excellent move for the family, despite what those wackos down in Georgia had almost done. Putting an arm around her daughter's shoulders she added, "The bill was vetoed, honey. There may be some crazy politicians looking for points with the far right extremists backing it, but it didn't go into effect. It won't be like that everywhere."

"It's like the heart of the bible belt Mom." Beca pointed out. She was glad that her parents did in fact seem to be aware of what had almost happened down there. And while her mom made a few possibly good points, it still wasn't going to be anything like it was here. Leaning into the embrace a little bit she sighed and said quietly, "Georgia isn't Washington. I'm sure that there are going to be plenty of people who thought that the bill was the right thing to do."

"I know Beca, I understand you're afraid." Beth added, rubbing her back. Beca seemed to be taking comfort from the familiar gesture. At least she wasn't pacing around the room anymore and seemed to be finally listening to them. Gripping the young girl's chin she forced Beca's stormy, dark blue eyes to look into her own matching pair and said, "But you'll have us there, your dad and I will be teaching and of course Jesse will be in class with you."

"I can't just stay with Aunt Trisha and Uncle Zack? I could help with the baby." Beca offered, desperate to find a solution. She knew she didn't want to throw such a fit as to stop this, because her parents were right. If everything they were saying was true, this could be great for her brother and she wouldn't want to stop him from achieving his dreams. But… Georgia. It was only then that a terrible, terrible thought came to her head. Panicking she looked from her mom to her dad and said desperately, "Please don't tell me they're coming too."

"No, they're staying here." Beth shook her head with a chuckle. Squeezing Beca's shoulders as the young girl relaxed a little Beth thought of a possible solution. Her daughter had always been an audiophile. Beca called it "her great escape", so maybe that could be the ticket. Shooting a hopeful glance at her husband she moved around in front of Beca and looked her in the eye. With a soft smile she threw what she hoped to be the winning solution onto the table as she said, "Tell you what Bumblebee, we'll get you that mixing board you've been saving for, that way if it gets too much, you can just come home after school and make your rad jams."

"You so grew up in the '80s." Beca said, rolling her eyes and wincing at her mom's turn of phrase. However, even as she was reacting with what her parents would call stubborn teenage pride, Beca was thinking hard. That mixing board, the one she'd been eyeing for months now, was seriously expensive. But man, just the thought of what she could do with it was already making her hands twitch with desire to find some new songs to mix. Realizing that her parents might have won her over, Beca gave one last huff before she added rather petulantly, "Fine, I don't really have a choice anyway. But I get to say 'I informed you thusly' if they get on me for being gay."

* * *

 _Five Months Later_

Beca pulled her headphones off her head when she noticed that Jesse was getting near their new school. He usually got annoyed with her fiddling with the radio, and generally wouldn't let her play her own music while they drove, so it was the best option. She'd just wear her headphones and he would sit in silence. It worked well for everyone involved.

As her music stopped the headphones came off Beca realized that her brother was actually whistling to himself cheerily as he drove. Today was to be their first day of school. Their first day in the newest form of hell that Beca would have to endure. And he was whistling…

"You realize this is going to be pure hell right, Dumbass?" Beca asked as Jesse turned into the student parking lot at Barden High school. The weather was hot and humid in Georgia for mid August, especially compared to back in Washington, and Beca was extra grumpy because she has never really been a fan of hot. Especially hot and humid. In fact, she could have sworn that the moment she'd finished toweling dry after her shower that morning she had already been dripping wet again. That she blamed on the fact that the AC unit at the house they were renting had broken a couple days earlier.

In short, Beca was about as miserable as she could imagine being.

"Oh calm down Marvin, it's not going to be as bad as you think." Jesse said as he searched for an empty parking spot. The heat had never really bothered him the way he knew it did his sister. He was guessing it was because he was used to being hot and sweating from years of sports where Beca usually spent all her time indoors on her computer or playing music. However, if he was asked under pain of death, he wouldn't be able to lie and say that Beca being grumpy and miserable wasn't just the slightest bit adorable. It took all his willpower not to reach over and ruffle up her hair. Instead he said, "Mom and dad said that the AC unit will be fixed by the time we get home. And as for the other, well, it's just nine months, and then you can go to Los Angeles or whatever you want to do."

"Easy for you to say, you're going to be Mr. Popular Football star and I'm going to be your bitchy, sarcastic, gay sister everyone harasses." Beca replied. She knew exactly how the school year was going to go. She'd seen it before when new people had come into their school. Yeah, Washington was more tolerant of certain things that Georgia, but high school students were still mostly just assholes. Of course Beca had been a known quantity back at those schools, now she was the newbie. Rolling her eyes and making sure her sunglasses were sufficiently covering her eyes she added, "At least back home there were plenty of girls willing to fall for my charms, and nobody cared."

"You don't know there aren't girls like that here." Jesse pointed out as he finally found a space facing towards a field where the cheerleading team was finishing up practice. After shutting the truck off both Mitchell siblings sat for a moment admiring the spectacle in front of them. If there was one nice thing about having a hot, gay sister, it was that Beca was usually a good wingman for him. Shaking his head like a horse shaking off flies, Jesse reached into the back seat and grabbed his and Beca's bags. Dropping Beca's into her lap broke his sister's attention on the cheerleader's routine. With a nod towards the field he picked up the conversation thread and said, "There definitely seem to be some attractive girls there. Look at those little running shorts with the strategically placed paw prints, I like this place already."

"You are such a guy." Beca said, rolling her eyes as she got out of the truck. Not that she wasn't aware that he'd seen her staring at them too, she just chose to make it all about him being creepy. She usually got away with staring at girls. Especially cheerleaders. That thought made her realize another disappointing fact of having moved to Georgia before their senior year, she wouldn't be able to complete her set of varsity cheerleaders. Oh well, she'd have to find some way to live. Maybe she could go back briefly during winter break...

"Oh sister dear you can't tell me that I didn't see you appreciating the view as well." Jesse said as they started walking towards the building. Their path to the entrance of the school took them out of sight of the cheer squad, but Jesse had no doubts that Beca would soon become acquainted with them on a more personal level. There were times that he seriously wished she could teach him how she did it. Not that the girls weren't falling all over themselves to spend time with him, but it was a trickle compared to the way Beca's broody, silent, badass attitude seemed to hook the ladies back home. Seeing the blush beginning to color her cheeks he broke out into a smug grin and said, "That's what I thought."

"Once again though, this is GEORGIA." Beca pointed out. Now Beca knew that both she and Jesse were aware that that didn't mean much, because there were bound to be girls here who preferred a more tender touch. But it did mean she'd have to work a lot harder at it, and the girl's wouldn't want their appetites known to the wide world. And Beca was not about to become anyone's dirty, little secret.

"Yes, I know, homophobes everywhere." Jesse said, rolling his eyes. Just last night he and Beca had talked about this very subject, and his angsty little sister had agreed that just because there were homophobes everywhere didn't mean that there also wasn't lesbians around. Just that they might be harder to find. Sighing his most guilt trippy sigh, he shot her his best puppy dog expression and asked, "Just do me a favor, give it a shot ok? Two weeks, for me?"

"Fine, if you insist." Beca agreed, realizing he could have a point. Of course, she knew very well that he was aware of how evil that trick was. With the sighing and the puppy dog eyes, it would make her feel like a terrible excuse for a human being to have said no to that request. Now she was also aware that she didn't mind being the worst kind of human being ever when his requests got out of hand. He knew it too, which was why they usually came so infrequently.

Still, she had agreed, albeit reluctantly, to come here for Jesse's sake. The least she could do was give it, as the expression went, the old college try. Besides, you never know, even though they were in the heart of the bible belt, things might somehow surprise her and turn out to be ok. Just as that comforting thought came to her, however, they rounded the corner towards the main entrance of the school and the sight hit Beca like an anvil in one of those old Looney Tunes cartoons. Right smackdab on the center of a wide expanse of green lawn sat the school's tall flagpole. And gathered into a semicircle around the base of said flagpole was a large group of what seemed to be students and teachers. Quite obviously praying and some holding crosses. With a single sidelong glance towards her brother, who was standing mouth agape at the sight, Beca uttered the three words which were going to get a lot of use of the next few months the brunette had a feeling.

"Fuck my life."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** So sorry this took so long, it's been done since June but, stuff happened. Smeg finally finished his side of things, so now we're finally able to release it to the world. I hope this chapter lives up to your opinion of the first. Seriously, I was overwhelmed with how it went over. No clue when more of anything else is going to come, depends on how busy I get with things over the next few weeks. I don't know what else to say. I asked Smeg if he wanted to say anything, and he just said to say, that he's slowly working on his own projects and apologizes for this taking so long because he's been busy, and waiting for him to tell me that added a few hours to getting this out, and tghen me reading the epilogue of "From Ugly Duckling to Beca's Swan" by luvscience added a few more minutes. It's a great Steca fic I'd highly recommend. Anyway, on to the story

* * *

Beca's eyes were closed, the sound of her utterance still echoing in their ears in the more or less quiet morning air. She had known that coming to the middle of the Bible Belt, to Barden, Georgia, was going to try her patience in terms of intolerance and bigotry. She had a feeling that had bordered on certainty that going to school in such an area would see her inundated with, to her mind, religious extremists from all sides. She just hadn't really expected to encounter it before she had even stepped foot in said school.

She really hoped that Jesse knew how much her sisterly love was worth. His experiences as the likely incoming star quarterback of the football team were sure to be vastly different than hers, and it was only that incredible amount of love that she felt for her 'big' brother that stopped her from turning on her heels and walking away.

"Ok so maybe I was wrong." Jesse said as he and Beca stood still and watched the group around the flagpole. Reaching out a hand he set it on Beca's shoulder comfortingly as he didn't have to try hard to guess what was going through her mind behind those closed eyes. Even without Beca's very specific reason for not being overly fond of most religious groups, Jesse had never seen the draw to it, and considering all the bad that usually came from religions, he tended to be not a huge fan in his own right. Meeting Beca's stormy yet resigned blue eyes as she opened them and turned towards him, Jesse shrugged and said, "Maybe you do have a point."

"Trust me I'm not thrilled about being right." Beca said, shaking her head as she turned to her brother. She knew that he would no doubt be able to see her coming to terms with the fact that she had been right. In the end, it was like winning the worst lottery ever, Beca surmised as she shifted her bag on her shoulder. She had a feeling that as soon as she and Jesse walked out into the open and were spotted by the group at the flagpole that there would be some sort of sign floating around her telling them that she was the devil incarnate. Ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but her mind was given to dramatics at the moment. Turning back to look over at the group around the flagpole she sighed again and said, "I just didn't think it would be so...blatant so soon."

"Don't mind those wankers." A new voice with an Australian accent said from just behind them. Beca, for her part, tried to avoid jumping a foot into the air and barely managed to keep in the frightened shriek at the sudden appearance of a new voice. Turning quickly towards the newcomer, Beca took in what she expected would be listed as the cause of her fatal heart attack. The newcomer, a larger blond girl, seemed unaware of the panic she'd caused in Beca as she continued to stare at the group of religious wackos in disgust. Shaking her head, the newcomer turned to look at Jesse and her and said, "It's just something they do from time to time on days like this. They're really the only ones that are that bad."

"And the school lets them?" Jesse asked skeptically, turning towards the Australian girl. Beca, knowing her brother, was fairly proud that he hadn't shrieked like a women from those 1960s sitcoms who had just seen a mouse. Fairly proud of his composure, Beca watched as he looked at the new girl before turning back to gesture towards the group as he said, "I thought that those sorts of religious activities weren't allowed in public school…"

"Oh, it's not an official thing of any sort. Some people just feel the need to pray everywhere." The girl explained, which gave Beca a small bit of hope that maybe this wasn't going to be the beginning of a year or more in hell for her. Turning back to fully take in the scene, the short brunette noticed for the first time, now that she wasn't just staring in dismay at the prayer circle, that it did seem to be a fairly small group. And there were more than a few people who walked past the group shaking their heads or rolling their eyes, which was the same reaction that the newcomer had before she realized she hadn't introduced herself. Sticking out her hand towards Beca and Jesse she said, "You two are obviously new here, I'm Fat Amy. I call myself that so twig bitches like you don't do it behind my back."

"Right, well, I'm Jesse and this is my sister Beca." Jesse introduced himself, reaching out to take Fat Amy's proffered hand as he gestured towards Beca. He wasn't expecting a grand gesture from his sister, she was usually the anti-social one of the two of them, and as expected the shorter girl simply nodded at Amy and ignored her hand. The larger blond girl seemed puzzled and was opening her mouth, no doubt to say something to Beca, when Jesse spoke up instead, "Guess we should get inside, we've got to find Ms. Abernathy-McKadden's office."

"She prefers to be called Gail actually, and it's not that hard to find." Amy said, seeming to forget what she'd been about to say to Beca and instead giving them directions to where they would find the Guidance Councilor's office. Thanking the blond, Beca nodded again but gratefully this time, the pair made their way past the praying students and into the school proper. With Amy's directions it didn't take them long before they had found Gail's office.

"Hi, we're Jesse and Beca Mitchell, we were told to come see Ms. Abernathy-McKadden." Jesse explained to Gail's secretary. The older woman sitting behind the desk nodded as though she'd been expecting them, which she probably had, Beca realized. In fact, the short brunette could see, sitting on top of the secretary's desk, two folders that, if the name "Mitchell" on them was any indication, were most likely Jesse's and her files from their old school.

"Yes, she's expecting you, you can go right in." the woman said, gesturing to the inner door to Gail's office. Jesse, the fool that he was, just smiled cheerfully and turned towards the door to the inner office without even a second glance. Beca, however, hesitated for a moment as her gaze lingered on the files. She was, for some odd reason, inordinately curious about them and what they said about her and her brother. Well, she'd have to maybe try and sneak a peek at them one of these days, but that was a task for another day. Reluctantly she turned and moved to follow after Jesse as he approached the closed door of the inner office.

"Thank you." Jesse said over his shoulder to the secretary, another sign of his foolish belief that they were, in fact, anywhere other than hell. To be fair, that Amy chick hadn't seemed too bad, but Beca couldn't get past the prayer circle. Shaking her head as Jesse knocked on the door briefly before opening it and sticking his head in to ask, "Ms. Abernathy-McKadden? We were told to come see you."

"Call me Gail." The woman instructed as Fat Amy had said she would, Beca had to at least grudging admit that she'd been telling the truth about that much, so maybe the circle… Nah. She wasn't that lucky. The woman stood up from behind her desk as she gestured for the pair to come on in and said, "You two must be the Mitchell twins."

"That's right." Jesse confirmed for the both of them, once again taking the lead as he entered the room first. Beca was surprised by her first impression of the office as she stepped into it. It was a surprisingly warm and inviting space, given that they were smack in the middle of Bible Belt Central, USA, which as far as she was concerned was synonymous with Hell. With a friendly look Gail Abernathy-McKadden smiled warmly at them from behind her desk and gestured for them to take the two remaining, empty seats in front of her desk.

That, too, was a gesture that surprised Beca. She was used to people, especially teachers, just loving Jesse. He was a good student, his grades a little above average generally speaking. He was friendly and polite in ways that Beca generally wasn't, and of course, he was also an excellent athlete. All of this, Beca knew, would be in the file that had been sent over from their previous school, so the shorter girl wasn't surprised to see Gail smiling warmly at him. It was the fact that the same smile was directed at her that shocked her the most.

She was fairly sure that her transcript painted quite a different picture of herself. Her regular trips to detention, the sarcastic mouthing off to teachers, the higher than average number of absences were all no doubt well documented. She was also fairly sure that the one time during her freshman year when she'd broken into the school with some friends to do a little skateboarding in the halls was probably in there too. The fact that despite all that her grades were generally better than Jesse's was usually overlooked by most teachers who just saw her as "the troublemaker". So the fact that Gail was smiling just as warmly made Beca feel a bit weirded out, like there was some plot afoot.

In fact, the situation was so disturbing to her that she didn't even notice that Gail wasn't alone in the room. Her brother, however, had spotted the additional body, a fellow student, immediately. He smiled politely at the mouse-haired boy sitting in one of the three chairs as he slid into one of the others, leaving the third one for Beca. Once they were seated, Gail smiled at them again in welcome and retook her own seat before glancing down at her desk.

"Right. Well, your parents made sure I got your transcripts, so we've got your schedule all drawn up. I also have your locker assignments and their combination here." Gail explained, handing over the relevant information to its proper recipients. Beca barely glanced at hers, knowing she'd have time to look it over more thoroughly later and assuming there would be nothing odd to be found on it. Gail, having sat back down after handing over the papers, gestured towards the brown haired boy who had been sitting quietly in the third chair since they'd entered the room and said, "Benji here will help show you around. Help you get your feet under you, as it were."

"Pleasure to meet you both." Benji greeted awkwardly. He stood to shake Jesse's hand, though when he turned to Beca and saw how disgruntled she looked, he did what he did best and pulled a bouquet of silk flowers from his sleeve and handed them to Beca saying "These are for you, welcome to Barden High."

"Thank you." Beca said, the boy's sweet though nervous gesture endearing him to her and earning him a smile. Jesse said nothing but couldn't help the slightly smug grin. Beca looked down at the flowers in her hand and while she'd never really been the girl that went nuts for flowers, even fake ones like these designed for magic tricks, she still appreciated the gesture. With another small smile for Benji, Beca handed the trick bouquet back to him as she said, "Not that I don't appreciate them, because I do, but I'm guessing it'd be better for you if I gave these back."

"Yeah thank you, I only have a couple." Benji said slightly sheepishly. It wasn't hard for Beca to see that he was nervous, and she didn't have to be telepathic to guess it was because of her. Her smile slipped into her trademarked smirk at her amusement that he really had no reason to be nervous since, she suspected, they played for the same team. But that was a conversation for another time, and definitely another place, which Benji made obvious as he went on to say, "So, Gail told me we're all in the same history class first period."

"Oh merciful Flying Spaghetti Monster." Beca said as she finally actually looked at her schedule. She let out a groan when she saw what she'd expected to see, or dreaded was maybe the proper term. In all their years in school this hadn't happened yet, though their parents said it was because of rules against it. Well, maybe not rules per se, but it was frowned upon. So it wasn't too much of a shock to her that what was frowned on elsewhere apparently wasn't down here in Georgia. When she saw Jesse's questioning eyebrow she realized he hadn't looked yet either, so she explained, "Mom's class."

"It's not like this is a huge surprise." Jesse said, just shrugging it off. Though now that the topic of classes had come to the forefront of the conversation he also glanced down at his schedule. Sure enough, their mom was listed as the instructor of their first period History class. The rest of the schedule didn't surprise him much. They were, for the most part, classes he'd signed up for last year at their old school for his senior year. Looking back at Beca, and the look of misery, or perhaps terror, she was wearing, he added, "It was pretty much bound to happen at some point anyway."

"I'd put you in another section if I could, but then if I did that your whole schedule would start to unravel." Gail explained, obviously understanding the looks of shock that had no doubt passed over both her and Jesse's faces when they took in their schedules. From the way she wrinkled her nose, she obviously wasn't thrilled about the matter either. With a sigh and a helpless shrug she offered up a brief explanation that explained the main reason for why things were as they were. Shaking her head she changed the subject, saying, "You should get going if you're going to have time to get to your lockers before heading for class."

"Thank you Gail." Benji said before turning his attention to the newcomers. At what was an obvious dismissal, he had gotten up from his seat and started to make his way to the door out of Gail's office. As he walked towards the door he gestured vaguely out to his left and in front of him and said, "Mine's a little bit further from yours, so I'll show you to them and catch back up to you for class."

"No problem." Jesse said with a nod, recognizing the dismissal as well. Standing from his own chair he smiled a quick, friendly smile at the counselor before moving to head out the door Benji was now holding open. Before he crossed the threshold Jesse turned back, smiling one last time and adding, "Thanks Gail."

"Yeah, thank you." Beca agreed as they started following where Benji was leading them. Gail's secretary's desk looked much as it had before, except this time there were no files laying on it. The woman smiled kindly at them as they walked out.

"That's the principal's office." Benji said, pointing out another office door that stood closed as they moved back out into the school proper. Pausing briefly he lowered his voice and gestured for them to get a little closer as he said, "Principal Smith is kind of a buffoon, but he doesn't really have a lot of power, it's Vice Principal Hansen that takes care of things. That's her office there."

"Hansen? Sounds Swedish." Beca said. The short brunette's mind was kind of on overload already with the amount of information they'd been given. She thought that this was probably a bad sign seeing as it was only the very start of their first day. As they neared the Vice Principal's office a tall blonde woman came walking out which caused Beca to mutter, "Definitely Swedish…"

"My great grandparents did come from Sverige, yes." The woman confirmed in a cool, precise tone as she looked the trio over. Beca tried not to blush as it became apparent that she hadn't muttered quietly enough. Still, the tall and not unattractive blond woman didn't seem offended. Instead she gazed down at them, taking in first one then another. Her movements seemed almost robotic to Beca, but she passed that off as fleeting fancy.

"Hi Dr. Hansen." Benji said with a slight tremor in his voice. If Beca didn't' know any better she'd have guessed it was nerves. Then again, a second glance at the Vice Principal upgraded her assessment of "not unattractive" to "quite attractive" and she realized why.

"Good morning Benjamin." She said with a nod to him. And if the clipped, precise way of speaking the blond had was any indication, Beca realized that there might have been a little bit of intimidation backing Benji's tone too.

"She calls people by their full name." Benji explained quietly, though Beca wasn't sure why he bothered. Based on her having heard Beca earlier, it was unlikely that she'd not have heard anything Benji said with her standing right in front of them. Again, though, she only arched an eyebrow at their guide's remarks.

"Good to know." Beca said, though she wasn't sure why she spoke at all. More than likely, she realized, she was probably just picking up on Benji's nervousness and speaking to simply fill the silence as the tall, blond VP merely looked at Benji with that cool, raised eyebrow of hers. Beca would freely admit, anywhere other than here at least, that the woman was a bit intimidating even just standing there silently.

"Yes I'm sure." Dr. Hansen said with a nod to Beca after her pause. Seeming to have ticked off a mental box, probably one labeled "Intimidate New Troublemaker So She Behaves Herself", the tall blond imperiously surveyed both her and Jesse again. Recognition was evident in her eyes as she took in their appearance and the schedules that they were both holding. She nodded a second time before speaking again, "You're the Mitchell twins, Beca and Jesse. Welcome to Barden High, I trust you'll both exceed."

"We'll do our best, ma'am." Jesse said as a man came out of the principal's office. Beca's gaze shifted briefly to the man, who seemed fairly well put together as far as adults went, she supposed. His face looked a little dopey, though, and something about him rubbed Beca the wrong way.

"This is Principal Smith." Benji explained. The shorter girl could almost feel Benji restraining a sigh, and she wasn't sure why. Of course, the reason for that was answered very quickly as the Principal opened his mouth and spoke one of Beca's most hated words.

"Ahhh, these must be the new kids, Jesse and Rebecca Mitchell." John guessed as he looked the trio over. The shorter girl cringed slightly as he spoke what he thought was her full name. It always pissed her off when people did that. Before she had a chance to correct him, though, the Vice Principal spoke up.

"Her name is Beca, John." Dr. Hansen said, speaking slowly in a very patient tone. Unless Beca was mistaken this probably wasn't the first time she'd said that to the man. However, the fact that she had said it at all had immediately raised Beca's opinion of her. The lady may be cold as a winter's day in northern Sverige, but maybe she wasn't all bad. As Beca's opinion of the blond was rising, she spoke up again, "It's not Rebecca, I told you that. Also, you'd have known that if you had read the file I put on your desk."

"Please, you know I don't read anything before lunch." John said with a cheeky wave of his hand as though to banish the idea of anything so strenuous. The older man appeared almost appalled at the idea of anything so drastic as having to read files he was given. After a moment, though he smiled again, an even larger smile than before and nodded as though he'd won a point.

"We've got to get going, have a good day Dr. Hansen and Mr. Smith" Benji interjected as he excused the trio from the conversation. Without waiting for an acknowledgement he resumed their trek to their lockers. Once out of earshot of the Principal and Vice Principal he gave a quick chuckle before saying, "Between her and Superintendent Posen, this school is run really well."

"Yikes. Is her first name Elsa?" Beca asked, looking back over her shoulder as she did so, just in case the woman had crept up behind them to eavesdrop some more. Thankfully the hall behind them was empty of tall, frosty, arrogant blonds for the moment, though Beca was sure that there would no doubt be many more in the student population too. Shuddering at the thought she went on, "Because she seems like a bit of an ice queen."

"Quick, someone alert the media! Beca busting out a movie reference? Now I've seen everything." Jesse joked, grasping at his chest as though he was having a heart attack. Benji laughed at the antics of the two, especially as Beca just rolled her eyes and ignored her brother.

"Please, Frozen was everywhere." Beca retorted, slapping her brother on the arm hard enough to make him wince. She didn't say, and didn't need to for Jesse's sake at least, that that was about the extent of her knowledge of the movie. Crazy queen lady with ice powers who freezes the whole place and needs to learn to let shit go apparently.

"She can be a bit scary at times." Benji conceded, and Beca could see him swallow reflexively at the thought. But it didn't last long before a smile was creeping onto his face again. Gesturing back towards the office he added, "But she really cares."

"Well that's good." Jesse said which caused Beca to look around at the numbers on the lockers near them which she compared against what she remembered theirs were. He wasn't wrong, unless Beca was much mistaken, and she couldn't help looking around at the people still hanging out in the halls nearby. A part of her wondered which one of them would be the first to get on her case about being a lesbian. Jesse's voice brought her back to the present and she saw him pointing a little ways down the hall as he said, "This looks like that's us there."

"Right next to Luke and Rae Miller, which makes sense." Benji said as he saw the English siblings at their lockers. The pair looked up curiously from their conversation as Benji and Jesse approached them with her lingering a step or two behind. As she got closer she more or less ignored the tall, blond boy and instead focused on the girl who had to be his sister. She was cute, really cute as a matter of fact. So cute, actually, that Beca almost missed Benji gesturing between the two pairs of siblings and saying, "Luke and Rae, Jesse and Beca Mitchell."

"Mitchell? You're supposed to be the new quarterback, aren't you?" Luke asked, casting an appraising eye over her brother that Beca didn't even really notice. Rae was looking back at her with what Beca felt to be a keen interest as well, and the short brunette was trying not to get her hopes up that she was next to the probably only other gay girl in the school. Lady Luck, apparently, was with her thus far. Naturally the three boys were oblivious to the looks that she was giving Rae and that the British girl was returning.

"Well, I mean, there will be tryouts but maybe." Jesse said, shrugging and trying to sound modest. His words broke Rae's concentration, however, and the other girl looked towards him for the first time, giving Beca a chance to appraise her without worry.

Her hair was brown, a very similar shade to Beca's own chocolatey locks, though the British girl kept hers at shoulder length as opposed to Beca's which fell down her back if she let it. That was about where the comparison between them ended, however. She was taller than Beca, nearly as tall as her brother was, though Beca thought that was greatly aided by the shoes she wore with gave her another three inches or so. She also had light brown eyes, as opposed to Beca's stormy blue ones. And lastly, but most obvious to most guys at least, her chest was smaller than Beca's, but the shorter girl didn't mind that much, she had more than enough boob for the both of them if push came to shoving… Rae against a locker somewhere.

"Good luck mate, I'm the kicker, and I'm also on the real football team." Luke added, and Beca didn't even really hear the words he spoke with her mind filled with thoughts of empty school hallways and tall British girls. Carefully, very carefully she brought herself back to the present, and hoped she hadn't drooled all over the place.

"You know they call it soccer here." Rae said, swatting her brother on the shoulder. Turning back to look first at Jesse then at her, Rae smiled and went on, "Don't mind him, he's actually a decent guy most of the time."

"It's cool, I don't mind." Jesse said, looking between the pair. She was fairly certain that Jesse hadn't noticed the interactions between her and Rae. Hell, she wasn't certain she had really noticed them. She was fairly certain they'd been there, but she'd been wrong before. So she opted to stay quiet for now and let Jesse talk, it was one of his favorite things to do. She raised an eyebrow at him, though, when he asked, "So, are you twins too?"

"No, I'm a year older. I started school later, but it's all good now." Luke explained with a sigh. Beca had a feeling that it wasn't the first time he'd answered the question. Though maybe the first time in a while, considering the smallish town they had moved to. She wouldn't be surprised if this was one of those quaint country towns where everyone knew everyone else, and they all said hi to the sheriff as he passed. Though, to be fair, it wasn't _that_ small of a town, but still.

"I've got to get to my locker, I'll be back in a bit." Benji excused himself, and Beca gave him a nod while Jesse smiled cheerfully at him. If she wasn't much mistaken, and she usually wasn't in this situation, she had a feeling that her brother and Benji would get on quite well. They were both basically giant dorks, but in a lovable kind of way.

"Take your time." Jesse said to him. As he turned away from Benji's retreating form he must have seen something, as Beca watched his face go a little bit slack-jawed. Turning to see what he was looking at she saw a blond walking up to her locker a little way down the row. Her idiot twin did always have a weakness for blonds. So she wasn't surprised when, after he'd collected his tongue from the floor and his wits from, well if he had had any he'd have needed to collect them at least, and asked, "Who is that? She's super cute… Does she have a boyfriend?"

"That's Aubrey Posen, the superintendent's daughter." Luke explained, with an odd tone in his voice. Beca turned to look at the Brit and saw him just covering up a smile. A glance at Rae showed that she wasn't even trying to hide said smile. Not being in on the joke, though, Beca just raised an eyebrow at the other girl as Luke answered Jesse's question by saying simply, "And no, she does not have a boyfriend."

"I'm going to go talk to her, maybe see if she wants to go out sometime." Jesse said, walking over to her before anyone could say anything to him. "Hey, I'm Jesse, I'm new here and I was wondering if you'd be willing to show me around town sometime."

"There's really not a lot to see." Aubrey said, not looking at him as she put her stuff in her locker and took out what she'd need for class. Shutting it she turned to him and said, "If this is you asking me out, you should know that I'm a lesbian and I have a girlfriend, so I'm sorry if you had something else in mind."

"Oh, I didn't...I'm sorry." Jesse stammered feeling rather embarrassed. Gesturing vaguely back down the hall towards where he could see Beca shaking with laughter he said, "I didn't realize my sister isn't the only gay girl here."

"Most girls are straight yes." Aubrey explained patiently. He seemed like a nice enough guy. The approach had been rather deft, she couldn't deny that. He just had completely the wrong parts as far as she was concerned. A glance in the direction he had indicated showed her the profile of a girl who was, apparently, so overcome with mirth that she had to hold onto the lockers to stay upright. Looking back at Jesse, Aubrey shrugged and said, "You just happened to notice one of the ones who isn't. It's ok. You said it yourself, you're new here. Now excuse me, I'm going to go meet up with my girlfriend and our best friend and head for history."

"Ok, that could have gone better." Jesse said as he returned to Beca and the English siblings. He punched his sister on the shoulder as she was still laughing, but it didn't do much to diminish her amusement. Turning his attention to Luke he saw that the Brit had a sympathetic look on his face.

"To be fair, your question was if she had a boyfriend." Luke pointed out as he did a much better job hiding his amusement than Beca had, which was probably because he was trying to hide it, whereas Beca wasn't bothering.

"It was, I admit defeat." Jesse concurred with a sigh. Beca finally had stopped laughing so hard she needed Rae and the locker to help keep her upright, but she was still chuckling. Figuring this was as good an opening into the conversation as anything he asked, "So, I take it this school is LGBT friendly?"

"Between her and Dr. Hansen, this school is very tolerant yes." Luke confirmed with a vague gesture off in Aubrey's direction. The name of the Vice Principal stopped Beca's chuckle outright as Jesse raised an eyebrow.

"Something I'm very thankful for." Rae said with a wink to Beca. Jesse was oblivious again to the wink, but for Beca it only confirmed her earlier suspicions. Feeling the corner of her mouth twitching into its customary smirk, Beca thought that maybe this school might not be the hell she had been claiming it would be for the last several months. Of course, you wouldn't catch her saying as much to Jesse, but still. As though to put lie to everything Beca was thinking, Rae went on to add, "Though there are some students who aren't as enlightened, mostly the hard core christian ones. Don't worry, you'll be ok."

"Beca's been pitching a fit for months." Jesse explained, rolling his eyes and sighing at her. She ignored him, thinking that even just the folks Rae had mentioned were enough to make her life hell for the next year. Her smirk turned to a glare, though as her brother put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze and added, "It's in her nature though. Plus Orlando really got to her."

"That was a tragedy, I felt so horrible myself." Rae agreed forlornly. Beca shrugged off Jesse's arm, glared at him again for good measure, but couldn't sustain it because the boy had been right. Even still, months later, the thought of what happened in Orlando still shook her.

"Don't worry Becky, you've got your brother and me to look out for you." Luke offered, punching Jesse in the shoulder. Beca couldn't hold back the snort of laughter, though she was thankful for it because it shook her out of thoughts of Orlando. Luke obviously didn't know that Jesse played Quarterback because he was a freaking wimp when it came to physical confrontation. I mean, he wouldn't ever run from a fight, but he definitely preferred avoiding them in the first place.

"It's Beca." She corrected quickly. She didn't want to spend another year as Becky. She'd done that, and it had been hell. People had kept calling out "Boats, boats, boats" to her until she punched Reggie Wallace in the face. She'd gotten suspended for three days for that, but it had been worth it to stop hearing that idiotic phrase.

"He knows." Rae explained, whacking her brother on the arm. Beca raised an eyebrow at the girl because whether he did or not, she didn't even want a hint of Becky in this school. Rae nodded solemnly at her as she added, "He was just messing with you. Oh, before the bell rings, can I see your schedule?"

"I guess." Beca said, handing it over slightly reluctantly. Watching as Rae's face fell briefly while she scanned the list, Beca had a feeling she knew what the other girl was doing. It'd be nice to have some classes with her, give her a chance to get to know her, but based on that look she wasn't sure if it was going to happen.

"Looks like we don't have any classes together till after lunch." Rae said as she looked it over. Shaking her head a little sadly, she held the piece of paper out and proffered it to Beca, who took it back. Gesturing towards the schedule with a nod, she said, "Not until Mr. Q's AP physics class, should be interesting. He's a bit...he's boorish but he knows his stuff. Anyway, we need to be getting to class. Try and find me at lunch, we can sit together. I'll keep an eye out for you, too."

"I will." Beca said as she took back the schedule, folded it, and stuffed it in her pocket. When she looked back up, Jesse and Luke were fist bumping, which earned another eye roll from her, and then the pair of Brits were wandering off towards their first class.

"See Beca, things aren't so bad." Jesse said as he lifted his own schedule up to look at it. He was looking around the halls for an indication as to which way would take them to first period when Benji joined them and indicated off the opposite direction off Rae and Luke. She cast a glance back towards the British girl whose back she could just see retreating into the crowd as he added, "There are other girls on your team, and it seems like you might have met one already, unless I'm completely off base. Which I'm not. You'll have to see if she's interested…"

"Yeah… I don't know. That was just two people, three if you count Benji here. There are a lot more at this school who can still hate my rainbow colored guts." Beca said, nodding towards Benji who smiled at being included. She didn't bother to hold in the sigh, though, because he was more on point about Rae than she suspected he knew, so there was hope at least. Shaking her head she spotted the classroom for their first period ahead and just said, "We'll see how things pan out from here. Let's just get to class."

* * *

"What's your mom like as a teacher?" Benji asked as the three of them neared her classroom. Beca just rolled her eyes, because she was so used to hearing that question. Throughout most of their school years growing up Beca had heard that question at least once. Thankfully she had Jesse with her to answer the stupid questions, because whatever teachers said there were such things as stupid questions.

"We've never actually had her." Jesse explained, managing to make it sound like he hadn't already said the same thing dozens of times already. Beca noticed that Benji seemed a little surprised by the admission, and obviously so did Jesse as he added, "There are rules about it, so… But everyone I know who'd had her seemed to like her, so that's something."

"Well that's good." Benji said. To Beca's surprise he actually appeared to think that it was good. It wasn't hard to figure out why Benji had been assigned to them, the kid obviously enjoyed school. Not in a super nerdy way, though she could tell that he flew that nerd flag proudly, but in that he genuinely was happy to be there. It was weird to Beca, who had always thought of school as just that thing you did until you turned 18 and graduated. Benji leaned in and said in a slight whisper as though her were revealing a terrible secret, "The guy she replaced was boring and stuffy."

"They're the worst kind of teachers." Beca said as they entered the classroom, giving a nod of acknowledgement to her mother. A quick glance around the room showed it was about half full, which was a good thing as far as she was concerned. It meant that hopefully she could have her pick of seats. In addition to the nod, which made her mom just roll her eyes, Beca also tossed out a casual, "Hey."

"Hey, sit anywhere you want. No assigned seats." Beth said. The trio acknowledged it as they picked out seats. Beca was happy to find out that at least one of the things she'd heard about her mom as a teacher was true. Tossing her bag down beside the chair, Beca slumped into it and promptly slouched down and pulled out her phone. From the front of the room she heard her mom chuckle and looked up to see her looking right at her. The older version of Beca rolled her eyes again, shared a long-suffering look with her brother and said, "And of course Beca goes to the back."

"It's to everyone else's benefit really, let them sit where they want." Beca shrugged as other students started coming into the classroom. She knew her mom probably wasn't going to buy that bullshit altruistic line so she threw on her best smirk just to top it off. The smirk slid into a grin when her mom rolled her eyes. Beca caught Jesse's eyes bouncing between the two of them as her brother wore an amused smile. If it wasn't for all the desks and random students around it would almost have been like being back at home. Beca could do this. Speaking of home, she added, "I mean if I have any questions I can always ask you at home."

"You still need to pay attention in class though." Beth chided as students continued to file into the room. After the one brief admonition, their mom turned back to writing on the white board behind her. Beca rolled her eyes, knowing that her mom would know she'd done it, but feeling that it was required nonetheless. A quick glance at the board showed that there wasn't anything critically important up there yet. Just the same beginning of the year stuff she'd be seeing in all her classes today no doubt.

Shifting her gaze from the board her attention was quickly drawn to a gorgeous redhead with her hair pulled into a quick, messy ponytail following Aubrey and what Beca guessed to be her girlfriend into class. The redhead headed directly for the seat next to Beca, one of the few left. Aubrey sat in front of Chloe, with her girlfriend to her right. Once she was settled in, the redhead turned to Beca.

"Hey, you're new. I'm Chloe." The redhead said in a very chipper tone. Beca blinked, shaking her head quickly at the rapid, excited tone of the girl. The hour, combined with the pure energy coming off Chloe seemed to have temporarily stunned Beca's brain and it took her more than a few seconds to catch up to reality.

"Uh, yeah, um… Yeah, I'm new." Beca said in a very flustered tone, stumbling over her words as her brain finally jerked into gear. Chloe, well at least her name was as pretty as she was. Beca mentally slapped herself for even thinking such a sappy, bullshit line and quickly tried to compose herself. Throwing on her best, and favorite smirk, she spoke up quietly just as the bell rang to start the class, "I'm Beca."

* * *

After history, the rest of the morning was nothing overly special. Second period, Beca and Jesse had debate with a very reserved, methodical woman named Ms. Paul. Third period was the first Jesse and Beca had separate. Beca had a music theory class with Mr. Fontaine, while Jesse had gotten a film class with Mr. Paris. Fourth period, they were back together for trigonometry with Miss Douglas. Beca was both thankful and disappointed Chloe wasn't in any of them. Shortly after their introductions, class started and her mom kept them busy the whole period, and afterward Chloe, Aubrey, and Stacie as she finally learned the tall brunette's name, rushed off to their next class. So while she was spared from further embarrassment trying to carry on intelligent conversation with the gorgeous redhead that made it hard to form coherent thought, the girl was also an intriguing mystery. It was pushed to the back of her mind however as Rae flagged her down as soon as she entered the cafeteria with her lunch.

"Hey, how was your morning?" Rae asked as Beca sat opposite her. Beca sagged wearily in her chair and let out a deep breath. Rae raised her eyebrow quizzically at her in response, but Beca just shook her head. She was sure that the British girl knew just how tedious classes were, so instead she gave a slightly more positive rundown of her schedule to date.

"It was ok, music theory was fun, even if Mr. Fontaine seems like he's straight out of 1960s Las Vegas." Beca answered highlighting the one class so far that she'd actually enjoyed. Though to be fair, her first period class hadn't been that bad either. But Beca wasn't about to give her mom praise on the first day of school.

"Yeah, he does give off that vibe." Rae said with a chuckle as she nibbled on some of her lunch. Beca watched surreptitiously as the other girl picked at her food making careful not. Not necessarily in a creepy manner, more in a 'I want to know what's safe to eat' manner. She figured that the other girl would be used to the cafeteria food by now so… As Rae ate she added, "He's cool though, I'm sure you'll like it."

"I'm sure I will, I mean right now, the line 'Peaches come in a can, they were put there by a man' is going through my mind." Beca agreed with a small smile as she poked at the diced peaches on her tray. While the Presidents might not be her favorite band, they did have a few catchy songs for sure. Rae returned the smile with a shake of her head as Beca turned back to take the first tentative steps into the realm of lunch.

"Luke knows that song." Rae said, nodding towards her brother who had just entered. Beca looked to where she indicated, and was about to say something when Chloe walked in. Rae couldn't help but smirk which Beca didn't notice until she finally brought her gaze back to the British girl. Shaking her head, Rae said ruefully, "I see Barden's resident ray of sunshine has caught your eye."

"What? Oh, I mean, she's..." Beca said after she processed Rae's words. She managed to avoid looking in the redhead's direction again, but only barely. Of course, she also knew that she was probably blushing, but there wasn't much to be done about that. Before she could explain that the redhead had spent nearly the entirety of their shared first period together trying to be Beca's friend Rae spoke up again.

"Dating the star running back." Rae filled in for her as Luke sat at the table. Beca wasn't quite sure what the expression that flickered over Rae's face was. Could have been amusement, but the shorter brunette hadn't really gotten a good gauge on the Brit yet, so she wasn't sure.

"Chloe?" Luke asked obviously up to date on school gossip and thus cluing in on the conversation with just that simple piece of information. After receiving a nod from his sister he just chuckled and glanced over towards where the aforementioned girl's hair stood out like a beacon in a sea of blonds and brunettes. Looking back towards Beca and Jesse he chuckled as he said, "Yeah, everyone likes Chloe."

"Is she the Regina George of this school?" Jesse asked as he sat next to Beca. Beca, despite Jesse's numerous attempts at a so-called 'movi-cation', hadn't the foggiest idea of what Jesse could be speaking, and made sure he knew it by the quizzical look she shot at him. At his twin's questioning look he explained, "Mean Girls? Rachel McAdams?"

"Is that the one with Lindsay Lohan back when she was still hot and the teacher that looks like Mom?" Beca asked, having a vague recollection of the movie that basically amounted to what she just said. She was actually proud of herself for even remembering that, and being able to put it together based on his loose description of it.

"Tina Fey, yes, she wrote it." Jesse nodded, a proud and slightly smug look on his face that made Beca kinda want to punch him. She didn't, but it was a close thing for a while. He must have realized he was pushing it with the smugness on top of it all, because he only kept the look up for a moment. Long enough to earn a solid glare though.

"No, Chloe's nothing like Regina. Chloe's a real sweetheart, nicest person you'll ever meet. Guys want her, girls want to be her. Or want her too, if you're into that sort of thing like we are." Rae explained, glancing towards Jesse. By the time she had though the smugness had left his visage, so Beca knew that her time for punching him had passed. Oh well, she knew her brother, there would be more. Looking back at Beca, the British girl had a thoughtful expression on her face for a moment before she said slowly, "You know, your brother here just gave me an idea. If you'd like someone to show you around, I'd be more than happy to."

"I think I'd like that." Beca said, locking eyes with Rae. Beca had a feeling she'd like that quite a lot.

After lunch, their afternoon was mostly inconsequential. Beca sat with Rae during Mr. Quincy's AP Physics class, which Chloe, Aubrey, and Stacie were also in. It was followed by Mr. Rossoff's Economics class, which again all five of them had together. Beca didn't quite know what to make of Mr. Rossoff. He certainly seemed very quirky. At one minute, he was very clearly an advocate of unabashed, laissez faire capitalism, but then the next he'd let loose a streak of compassion. Afterward, she had a study hall with Mr. Luria who didn't say a single thing all period, but Rae told her he's actually known for telling lots of stories and jokes. Her last class of the day was AP English taught by thankfully Ms. Sato and not her father. As they were at their lockers after class, Rae joked that she was a cunning linguist like the two of them, she was in a relationship with Ms. Paul. Beca couldn't help but roll her eyes at the lame joke, but she couldn't help but chuckle as well. Soon enough they parted ways for the day.

* * *

"So Beca, how was your day." Chris asked as they sat down for supper. Beca wasn't surprised by the question. It was actually just about the same one he'd asked nearly every night when the family had dinner together. In a way, it felt to Beca almost like they hadn't even left Ellensburg. Until her gaze fell on the room around them, which definitely was NOT their house from Washington.

"It certainly got off to a great start." Beth interjected, shooting a teasing smile towards Beca that made the shorter brunette worried. Before she could protest, complain, object, or make any sort of vocal response, her mom was pulling the metaphorical trigger as she said, "Beca met a girl."

"Oh really?" Chris asked, suddenly curious in the turn of events. Beca had hoped to avoid talking about Rae, or at least for bring her up casually first. Jesse, she felt fairly certain, was still nearly clueless about the looks that had passed between them. Still he must have said something about her to their mother for her to know about her. Her dad, looking over at Beca with a smile asked, "What's she like?"

"Rae's pretty cool..." Beca started, doing her best to keep her tone as mildly disinterested to throw off any suspicions. Her parents weren't idiots, she knew that, but the longer she kept it a secret that she might have actually found something worth coming to this backwards no-nothing of a town the better in her mind. Her mom, however, cut her off before she could lay down some cover about Rae, and she did so in a manner that took Beca completely by surprise.

"I'm talking about Chloe." Beth interjected, her voice a lilting sing song on the redhead's name. For a second, when Beth spoke, Beca had a fleeting vision of red wash across her vision. But it was gone so fast she was almost certain she'd imagined it. Her mom speaking up again drew her attention as she said, "You know, the cute redhead in my class this morning."

"Oh, yeah her." Beca nodded, still a little thrown by the sudden change of direction the conversation had taken. All her carefully prepared casualness regarding Rae kinda slipped out of the window as Beca thought back to the perky redhead she'd seen off and on throughout the day. Amazingly enough, said perkiness hadn't quit, either. All day long, every time Beca had seen her there had been a friendly wave or a chipper hello to great her. Beca didn't know what to make of it, so she said, "She seems cool too."

"Cool?" Beth asked, her eyebrow arched incredulously over one eye. After Beca shrugged, her mom rolled her eyes at her, an action that seemed a bit like staring in a mirror as she went on, "Bumblebee, your jaw practically dropped. I don't think I've seen you that incoherent since that Talia girl back in Washington."

"Talia was just a silly crush I had when I was 14, she and Susan are very happy together." Beca defended herself quickly, trying to back pedal as quickly as she could. Chloe was … She was annoying, really if she thought about it. I mean, yeah, like Rae had said she was super friendly. But that stuff always annoyed Beca. Right? As though laying the final chords on a track on which she'd been working for months, Beca brought out the big guns as she said, "Besides, even if I was into her, which I'm not, Chloe has a boyfriend."

"Uh huh…" Her mom said, still not believing a word she was saying. Her dad and brother, mere spectators in this verbal duel, watched the pair intently, eyes bouncing back forth as though watching a tennis match. Casually taking a bite of food, Beth paused after swallowing to point out the glaring hole that Beca had known she wouldn't let slide. Smirking slightly her mom said, "That doesn't mean she doesn't like girls. It just means she's just not available right now. I saw her look your way a few times during class, I think she might have liked what she saw."

"FSM DAMN IT MOM!" Beca called out, her fist that was clutching her fork slammed onto the table harder than she meant causing the glasses to jump. Looking down, to make sure nothing spilled, Beca pulled out her final weapon. With a long, heavy sigh she said quietly, "Can we please not talk about Chloe?"

"Fine." Beth acquiesced with a grin the Beca could barely see as she looked up surreptitiously. If she was into those Space Wars movies or whatever that Jesse loved so much, Beca might have said she had a bad feeling about this. But without that crutch to fall back on, she could only feel like a bear stepping through the woods when suddenly a trap snapped closed over its leg as her mom asked too casually, "So, what's this about a girl named Rae?"

"Fuck My Life."

* * *

 **Note 2:** So there you have it. Hope you liked it. Have a great whatever it is whenever you read this


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